Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), smiles during a lower house plenary session at the parliament in Tokyo in this November 15, 2012 file photo. Japan ruling party lawmaker Mieko Nakabayashi isn't just worried that her Democratic Party will lose power in next month's election; she fears a comeback by rival conservative Liberal Democrats will spell a return to the prolonged one-party rule that critics blame for many of the country's past policy ills. Three years after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended more than half a century of nearly non-stop LDP rule, surveys suggest disappointed voters will hand the LDP the most seats in a December 16 poll for parliament's lower house. That would put Abe in pole position to form the next government and regain a job he quit in 2007. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao/Files